Typical industrial robots are automatically controlled, reprogrammable, and multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes. Typical applications of programmable robots comprise, for example, welding, painting, assembly, pick and place such as packaging and palletizing, product inspection, testing, etc. Programming of motions and sequences for an industrial robot is performed by linking a robot controller of the industrial robot, for example, to a laptop, a desktop computer, a network, etc. Programmable robots are in their fourth iteration of development. Some programmable robots perform repetitive tasks but cannot adapt to a new task or a new environment. The repetitive tasks are determined by programmed routines that specify direction, acceleration, velocity, deceleration, and distance for a series of coordinated motions. Some programmable robots contain machine vision sub-systems acting as their visual sensors and are linked to computers or controllers for receiving instructions to perform repetitive tasks.
In an automotive assembly line, if a vehicle mounted on a skid enters a work environment, for example, a paint booth, on a conveyor, there may be a misalignment of the vehicle with the skid or a misalignment of the skid with the conveyor. Conventional robots are not equipped to account for these misalignments. Some systems use fixed cameras to capture images of the vehicle and determine the location of the vehicle, which are then fed to a programmable robot that is configured to perform a task, for example, painting the vehicle. However, while the programmable robot paints the vehicle, paint may fall on these fixed cameras, which affects the quality of images captured by these fixed cameras. Therefore, camera shutters of these fixed cameras have to be cleaned periodically to ensure the capture of accurate images of the vehicle. Moreover, fixed cameras are typically not mounted on arms of the programmable robot as paint sprays, sealants, etc., would damage the fixed cameras. Furthermore, fixed cameras have to be trained for each type of vehicle. Tooling holes across vehicles may not be in the vicinity of the fixed cameras, which does not allow vehicles of different types to be manufactured on the same automotive assembly line. Furthermore, the fixed cameras cannot access different areas and contours of the vehicles to capture accurate images of the vehicle. The fixed cameras, therefore, cannot capture a real time location of the vehicle and/or output performance of the programmable robot.
A robot and a collection of machines or peripherals constitute a work cell. A typical work cell contains a parts feeder, a molding machine, and a robot. Various machines in the work cell are integrated and controlled by a single computer or a programmable logic controller (PLC). The interaction of the robot with other machines in the work cell is programmed, both with respect to their positions in the work cell and their synchronization with each other, and does not dynamically adapt to a new target object, a new task, or a new environment. Programming of a robotic task in a work cell and associated peripheral systems involves conventional techniques of recording positions of interest, and then developing an application program that moves the robot through these positions of interest based on the application logic. A graphical user interface is used to specify the application logic which may not be applicable to a different target object, a different task, or a different environment, or to real time changes in the environment and misalignments of the target object.
Conventional automated painting equipment, for example, in paint lines for painting automotive vehicle bodies and parts typically utilize a significant number of photocell devices to identify objects and conditions so that the painting equipment may be properly operated in a safe and desired manner. Photocell devices are also often used to detect an intrusion of a human being into various zones of a paint line. Photocell devices are also used to detect the arrival of a vehicle body at a predetermined location within a paint spray station or a paint spray booth. The photocell devices are used for object identification, detection, and sensing along with the automated painting equipment because the photocell devices are non-contact devices that do not scratch a target object, for example, a vehicle body or a vehicle part to be painted. However, the photocell devices can be affected by workers or by environmental factors, for example, dirt, dust, paint mist, or splatter fogging over or otherwise obscuring transparent protective covers of the photocell devices, and must be cleaned often to avoid improper functioning of the photocell devices. The photocell devices may not adequately identify an object or contours of the object if the photocell devices are not critically aligned with a pallet or a holder of a conveyor system.
Hence, there is a long felt need for a method and an adaptive robot control system, in communication with a drone device, that adaptively control a programmable robot to perform a task on a target object while accounting for real time changes in the environment and misalignments of the target object in the work environment. Moreover, there is a need for a method and an adaptive robot control system that identifies contours of the target object to perform a task on the identified contours of the target object. Furthermore, there is a need for a method and an adaptive robot control system that offsets the misalignments of the target object in the work environment.